The present invention relates to apparatus for adding detergent solutions to wash water and, more particularly, to an attachment that can be installed upstream of a showerhead and which is manually adjustable to pass the water through a water soluble detergent tablet or cake or to bypass the detergent and supply rinsewater to the showerhead or nozzle.
The prior art has proposed a number of different types of detergent additive devices for washbasins, showers or the like. In general, such devices have employed various types of valves to divert a part or all of the waterflow from a source through a container in which the detergent is housed before the mixed detergent and water is passed to a delivery nozzle. In one group of prior art devices, the detergent must be in liquid form in order to be utilized in the device. While such devices have operated satisfactorily, the packaging and storing of detergent in liquid form is more expensive and space consuming than where the detergent is in a cake or tablet form. In devices where the detergent is in a powdered, cake or tablet form of the type which provides a sudsy solution when contacted with water, one problem that has been encountered is insufficient generation of soapy water due to the difficulty in diverting the liquid flow from the source with sufficient turbulence about the cake or bar of detergent. In other arrangements, with this type of detergent package, subsequent to the shut-off of the water, the residue of undissolved or partially dissolved detergent has tended to block the passageways and valves of the devices thus causing great inconvenience to the user. Other types of devices have required complicated plumbing arrangements and valves which are essential to their operation and which are correspondingly difficult to install as well as to clean.
Prior art representative of this field is listed below.
Belmont, U.S. Pat. No. 2,120,774
Otto, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,602,069
Heald, U.S. Pat. No. 3,231,200
Swimmer, U.S. Pat. No. 1,248,573
Gordon, U.S. Pat. No. 2,325,242
Donaldson, U.S. Pat. No. 2,135,969
Chase, U.S. Pat. No. 2,562,415
Wukowitz, U.S. Pat. No. 3,106,345
The present invention provides an improved soap dispensing apparatus which avoids the foregoing as well as other difficulties encountered with prior art devices and yet which is very inexpensive to manufacture and one which can be installed without special tooling for domestic use although it is not limited to this application. Further, the device of the present invention is virtually self-cleaning and makes it possible to easily replace a depleted supply of soap in solid form.
To summarize the present invention, a hollow body is provided with a threaded inlet and outlet generally aligned along the axis of the body and a flap valve is disposed in an interior chamber of the body. The flap valve is mounted on a pin which has one end extending through a wall of the body to facilitate manual adjustment of the flap valve. A soap dispensing housing is provided on one side of the body with an open end of the housing surrounding two apertures formed on either side of the flap valve support. The flap valve is arranged to direct flow from the inlet to the chamber into the housing containing the detergent package while the other aperture in the body empties into the chamber downstream of the flap valve so that any drainings after the liquid is shut off will not come into contact with the valve mechanism. Further, with the device properly oriented for gravity flow, the detergent residue and liquid remaining after use will drain out of the apparatus entirely.
The foregoing and other advantages will become apparent as consideration is given to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: